Broadway began thrilling Americans (mostly in the New York and surrounding area due to its location) with exciting entertainment during the decade previous to the 1920's, but it was not until the 1920's that Broadway really took off. Broadway musicals were a source of wonderful entertainment during this time. These years provided a time for new ideas and stories to be acted out on stage for everyone to see. This aided the United States society in the transition from the Victorian lifestyle to a jazz-influenced lifestyle.
Social Influence
Broadway plays greatly influenced the people that watched them. One group of people in particular was the women. Straying away from Victorian-style morals and dress, flappers created an image of the daring and promiscuous woman that others aspired to be like. A flapper was described as "a young woman with a short skirt, bobbed hair, and a boyish figure doing the Charleston, smoking, drinking, and being very casual about sex. (Nash 754)" Jazzy Broadway musicals during this time displayed this lifestyle. More recently, the Broadway musical Chicago (which was actually based on a true-story that became a play although not on Broadway, in 1926, and remade as a movie) describes “all that jazz.” Of course, many women rejected what they believed to be an immoral lifestyle, many younger women, around the age of nineteen (described by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby), took up this lifestyle.
A commercial for Chicago (left) and a scene from the movie featuring "All That Jazz" (right):
Economic Influence
The 1920’s are now known as the “Roaring Twenties” due to the economic prosperity of the era. With great prosperity, more people could afford entertainment to get away from their jobs or other burdens. Broadway was becoming a popular entertainment that people spent this wealth on.
Political Influence
Broadway was not used much as a way to display political satire until the 1930’s during and after the Great Depression. However, as the popularity of Broadway shows increased, musical writers and performers saw this as a chance to influence citizens dealing with political topics.
Broadway Musicals of the 1920's
1920: George White's Scandals by George Gershwin 1921: Shuffle Along by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake - This Broadway show written by African Americans featured all African Americans. Surprisingly, it was a hit. 1924: Lady, Be Good! by the Gershwins - This was a musical comedy with a great dancing team. 1925: The Cocoanuts by Irving Berlin and George S. Kaufman - This featured the Marx Brothers and was also a musical comedy. Manhattan by Rodgers and Hart No, No, Nanette - This is loved. 1926: The Desert Song by Oscar Hammerstein II and Sigmund Romberg 1927: A Connecticut Yankee written by Mark Twain and brought to Broadway by Rodgers and Hart 1928 Animal Crackers starring the Marx Brothers 1929 Fifty Million Frenchmen by Cole Porter
"Broadway in the 1920s." Broadway. 7 Mar. 2008. http://www.entertainment-link.com/event_details.asp?event_id=822 Chicago. 2001. Entertainment Link LLC. 7 Mar. 2008
Fitzgerald, Scott F. The Great Gatsby. United States of America: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926.
Nash, Gary B., Julie Roy Jeffrey, John. R. Howe, Peter J. Frederick, Allen F. Davis, and Allan M. Winkler. The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society. 5th ed. United States: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 2001.
United States. BROADWAY: THE AMERICAN MUSICAL Online. Broadway: The American Musical. 2004. 7 Mar. 2008. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/index.html
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Broadway began thrilling Americans (mostly in the New York and surrounding area due to its location) with exciting entertainment during the decade previous to the 1920's, but it was not until the 1920's that Broadway really took off. Broadway musicals were a source of wonderful entertainment during this time. These years provided a time for new ideas and stories to be acted out on stage for everyone to see. This aided the United States society in the transition from the Victorian lifestyle to a jazz-influenced lifestyle.
Social Influence
Broadway plays greatly influenced the people that watched them. One group of people in particular was the women. Straying away from Victorian-style morals and dress, flappers created an image of the daring and promiscuous woman that others aspired to be like. A flapper was described as "a young woman with a short skirt, bobbed hair, and a boyish figure doing the Charleston, smoking, drinking, and being very casual about sex. (Nash 754)" Jazzy Broadway musicals during this time displayed this lifestyle. More recently, the Broadway musical Chicago (which was actually based on a true-story that became a play although not on Broadway, in 1926, and remade as a movie) describes “all that jazz.” Of course, many women rejected what they believed to be an immoral lifestyle, many younger women, around the age of nineteen (described by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby), took up this lifestyle.
A commercial for Chicago (left) and a scene from the movie featuring "All That Jazz" (right):
Economic Influence
The 1920’s are now known as the “Roaring Twenties” due to the economic prosperity of the era. With great prosperity, more people could afford entertainment to get away from their jobs or other burdens. Broadway was becoming a popular entertainment that people spent this wealth on.
Political Influence
Broadway was not used much as a way to display political satire until the 1930’s during and after the Great Depression. However, as the popularity of Broadway shows increased, musical writers and performers saw this as a chance to influence citizens dealing with political topics.
Broadway Musicals of the 1920's
1920:
George White's Scandals by George Gershwin
1921:
Shuffle Along by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake - This Broadway show written by African Americans featured all African Americans. Surprisingly, it was a hit.
1924:
Lady, Be Good! by the Gershwins - This was a musical comedy with a great dancing team.
1925:
The Cocoanuts by Irving Berlin and George S. Kaufman - This featured the Marx Brothers and was also a musical comedy.
Manhattan by Rodgers and Hart
No, No, Nanette - This is loved. 1926:
The Desert Song by Oscar Hammerstein II and Sigmund Romberg
1927:
A Connecticut Yankee written by Mark Twain and brought to Broadway by Rodgers and Hart
1928
Animal Crackers starring the Marx Brothers
1929
Fifty Million Frenchmen by Cole Porter
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Works Cited
"Broadway in the 1920s." Broadway. 7 Mar. 2008. http://www.entertainment-link.com/event_details.asp?event_id=822
Chicago. 2001. Entertainment Link LLC. 7 Mar. 2008
Fitzgerald, Scott F. The Great Gatsby. United States of America: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926.
In2ItMarketing. http://www.in2itmarketing.com/marketing/corporate_identity/corporate_indentity.php
Nash, Gary B., Julie Roy Jeffrey, John. R. Howe, Peter J. Frederick, Allen F. Davis, and Allan M. Winkler. The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society. 5th ed. United States: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 2001.
United States. BROADWAY: THE AMERICAN MUSICAL Online. Broadway: The American Musical. 2004. 7 Mar. 2008. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/index.html